Reader Comments

Like a fool, I am burning the Vista ISO image to a DVD as I type this. Thanks, Paul, for the dual boot tip. Good advice.

what could be worse is for them not to release patches. also, how is microsoft's fault that the video card sucks up juice? blame nvidia and intel. They should provide a "low power mode" for the gpu just like intel does for the cpu so that it only uses as much juice as it needs to. It's like saying doomIII hurts battery life. well duh!

"Beta 2 is buggy, unreliable, and unstable, and I've been having crazy performance issues with it on multiple systems. " This is probably not a profound prediction but I would be very suprised if Vista was not delayed again. There is less than 6 months left and it still not very usable. Microsoft is going to have to pull a rabbit out of their hat to finish. It really sucks for developers because we have all these new cool developer tools but no platform to target. "Microsoft actually installs a tool on your PC that does nothing more than check to ensure that you're not pirating Windows" I bet Balmer is behind this stupid idea. Why do software companies think if they put strict copy protection on software that they will increase revenue significantly?

"Microsoft actually installs a tool on your PC that does nothing more than check to ensure that you're not pirating Windows, and it does this check every single day and then sends the results back to Microsoft." I'm not condoning this behavior, but everyone in the press has gotten it out of context. Paul's statement is also innacurate since this isn't the "only" function this tool performs. To the best of my knowledge (call it educated intuition), the check executes *only* when your machine visits windows update, or when your machine attempts to do an auto-update. Since most machines are set to "auto-update", they'll look for updates every day, thus run the check. The verification "hand-shake" occurs every time your computer does anything with the update server. If this *really* gets under your skin you can get around it by turning off auto update.

"Microsoft says it will improve Windows Vista's battery life, but I have to think it will never be as good as that of XP" Once again there is a bit of a factual problem. None of the battery-life argument has anything to do with Microsoft. It ultimately NVidia and ATI's problem... The architecture of modern video cards cause significantly greater power consumption since the 2D logic and 3D logic is physically distinct. In XP and prior windows versions, the chip could pretty much throttle down large portions of it's innards when in 2D mode. In 3D mode, the entire chip is operable, ergo you'll be generating tons of heat and wasting massive power. If you have heat-sensitive fans, you'll need to get used to the fact that Windows can now spin those up rather than just an FPS game. Notebook chips are a little better since they can usually do dynamic clock throttling. However, as a rule, ANY OS that uses a 3D rendered UI will have worse battery life than other OS'es that do not. This problem will eventually go away as the aforementioned graphics firms learn how to properly architect their product to run in an always-on 3D environment. Honestly, my biggest concern is going to be increased electricity bills, increased noise (heat-sensitive fan), and potential premature failure of graphics chips. Some of those massive $599 graphics cards put out inordinate heat. They may have seen their 3D duty cycles go from 20% to 100%, so I don't know what this might mean for video card failures. It depends how closely the manufacturers specify their cards against their thermal design limit. I'm also suspecting this is why companies with a full 3D OS don't include the fastest boards (Apple -- they tend to step down a level or two from the top), potentially this is due to the heat/noise issue. Apple is currently the only company that would need to cope with this problem, and their market share isn't enough to cause the necessary fundamental architecture shift.

You would be surprised, I am not downloading vista right now, and I am not going to do that. I have tuned my XPs with vista theme and I am quite pleased with that for the moment. :-) Oh... and one more thing... Win98 SE is very popular round here (means Central Europe). I guess lot of people won't be happy...

After 15 years of being the first kid on the block with a new OS (starting with OS2) I ain't gonna load Vista. I've matured a bit and just don't want to fuss with blue screens, buggy software and reboots any more. I have Win2K at home and XP at work and both are running just fine. Maybe in 2 years when Vista SP1 is out I might give it a try. But for now, I'm gonna "out-capitulate" and go take a nap.

Where do I sign up for the award? :) I'm suprised my primary system, running 98 SE, is still running. I don't have access to a computer that will even run the Vista Beta :(, so I've got an excuse not to install it.

"This is probably not a profound prediction but I would be very suprised if Vista was not delayed again. There is less than 6 months left and it still not very usable." Actually, less than four months. They need to get it out to businesses etc. by October end. That doesn't give them too much time. I too am beginning to have doubts. I may be wrong, but considering how much work is left to be done, I don't think it'll ship on time.

Keep in mind that this beta was released in the latter half of may; internal builds are probably much farther ahead of the public beta. When MS gets ready to ship a build, they have two lines of code: the bugfix version of the build they will release, and other, further ahead builds for internal use. I hope their internal builds are light-years ahead in driver performance and compatibility! I really want Vista to succeed.

"Why do software companies think if they put strict copy protection on software that they will increase revenue significantly?" Because there are some markets (France and Asian markets come to mind) where if they get a hold of one copy of your software, they'll never buy one from you again. Copy protection doesn't stop everyone, but it does help sales.

"I hope their internal builds are light-years ahead in driver performance and compatibility! I really want Vista to succeed." I can't believe they've put something this buggy out there for public consumption. Surely the negative press they're receiving wasn't worth it. I really don't understand what Microsoft's marketing execs could possibly be thinking. Better to put out something that just blows people away and get good press. In this case, all these negative reviews can't be helping. "battery life will never be as good as that of XP, unless you turn off Aero Glass. And at that point, why bother running Vista?" Paul, is that a tacit admission that the only thing of value in Vista is the pretty interface? Of course not! You run it not only for the enhanced security, but for the host of other features that have been so eloquently elucidated in this forum by sparky and others. Right? ***cue sound effect of crickets chirping*** :-)

"Eloquenty elucidated"....yeah, I kinda like that, lotsa. Sounds just like what I done went and did: Eloquenty elucidated myself right into a nap!! :)

Interesting, the VistaBeta2x64 iso on MSDN fits on a single sided dvd. Is the public release different?

www.apple.com/getamac Because life is too short to waste time and money on the Windows disaster. See you on Patch Tuesday!

"Surely the negative press they're receiving wasn't worth it." Hey, at least people are talking about it (as opposed to a rival OS that I won't name).

"Hey, at least people are talking about it" I don't mind Vista, it has grown on me a bit, but I'll admit I turned off UAP. The experience is so much nicer without that feature. Granted I admit it is a necessity for consumers. The big problem is that most applications don't play nice on the new platform (most software wants write access to its own directory, which is a poor choice by the developers). UAP will be fairly innocuous once all the software on a machine is designed for Vista. The transition might not be fun (sort of like the Mac folks going from PPC to Intel code, it'll work, but you aren't necessarily thrilled about running non-native software). I haven't had any stability problems with the OS. It seems there are significant problems with some audio drivers, and that could be causing some of the issues. For instance my integrated audio chipset isn't workable with anything other than an XP driver. I also disabled the advanced search functionality since the indexing service takes too much RAM. You can throttle down the memory footprint quite a bit if you start disabling superfluous services. Realistically the beta should have warned about the memory footprint. I'm sure optimization will help, but I'm personally not banking on huge gains between now and RTM. Unless you start tweaking to disable services, this beta runs best with at least 2GB RAM. I'm guessing the final will run fine with 1GB, but I wouldn't want less. You can get back to an XP-like footprint, but only if you turn off everything that makes Vista, Vista. All in all, Vista is "nicer", but XP is fine. Vista will be impressive in a couple years when hardware vendors release designs that leverage the OS. Otherwise we are in a transitional period (circa Windows 95) when drivers were scarce and hardware was built to conform to the prior generation of OS.

First of all, Christopher: shame on you. "if it really gets under your skin, turn off auto updates" BULL. It's still going to check when I do manual updates. The fact that it checks AT ALL is what gets under my skin. How can you people put up with this? Why is there not a mass outcry against it? It boggles my mind that you all are such a lazy herd of sheep that when someone comes along and writes some software that inspects your machine and then sends the report off to Mircosoft, you just roll over! There's not a single person here that seems angry about the feature! Even Paul doesn't seem to mind it as much as he should! Everyone got all bent out of shape when iTunes added that little feature that looks at your music library and then shows you some recommendations. And now, when it turns out that Windows is spying on you, everyone is apparently deaf and mute! And this isn't a Mac vs. Windows rant. This is a "software companies shouldn't be allowed to do this EVER" rant. Prompt me for a key to install, check it when I do, but after that, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY COMPUTER AND STAY OUT. Geeze, I'm so glad I own a mac.

Why get angry? From the more detailed accounts that I've read WGA is simply checking a kill switch to determine whether it should run (not the results of the check as Paul indicates if what I read is correct). So no personal information is being transmitted. Microsoft has already apologised for not making this behaviour known to the user and is promising to do so as well as reduce the frequency of the check to every 90 days. Where Microsoft has been collecting personal information or have the ability to determine such information they have been very upfront about it in their software and allow you to prevent such communication. However, if you do want to complain then let it be about Windows Media Player 11 in Windows Vista Beta 2 where you can't disable the option that allows Microsoft to collect personal information about the software's usage.

Just who are you, Beta testers? Who are the angry, burdened, and mumbling people that put up with Beta testing? Doesn't M$ have loads of people to test their products and find the same bugs and such? Let the driver programmers go crazy with Beta...give yourselves a break! Take your girlfriend or wife to lunch; go to the beach or the mountains; get away! Take your Harley on a three day cruise. Devise a breakthrough that will keep DOS alive for another ten years...do something constructive with your life...get a life!

"Hey, at least people are talking about it (as opposed to a rival OS that I won't name)." Hey, leave Solaris out of this conversation!

"However, if you do want to complain then let it be about Windows Media Player 11 in Windows Vista Beta 2 where you can't disable the option that allows Microsoft to collect personal information about the software's usage." Please tell me you're joking.... Please?

"Take your girlfriend or wife to lunch..." Or for a REALLY good time, take them both!

""Take your girlfriend or wife to lunch..."" "Or for a REALLY good time, take them both!" lotsamystuff , I'm suprised. I thought you were something else being a mac user.

"Because there are some markets (France and Asian markets come to mind) where if they get a hold of one copy of your software, they'll never buy one from you again. Copy protection doesn't stop everyone, but it does help sales." Yes. The gray-market in Asia accounts for a large portion of PC sales. So, WGA is a necessary evil. "Take your girlfriend or wife to lunch; go to the beach or the mountains; get away!" And leave your computer at home.

"Please tell me you're joking...." He is and he isn't. Beta 2 has a disabled privacy checkbox. The final version will support opting-out of data exchange. The code isn't done, so it might not be doing anything worthy of shutting off. I wouldn't jump to conclusions given that the OS isn't complete and they've provided a placeholder to turn-off the "features". "Geeze, I'm so glad I own a mac." You did read the URL carefully, didn't you? Perhaps I'll make a daily habit of visiting forums for companies whose products I don't own and insulting the regulars. I mean, Porsche owners must be stupid, right? After all, they didn't buy a proper hand-built non-German sports car. I should run off right now to tell them they are a bunch of idiots. I'm sure they would greatly appreciate the informative lecture.

"First of all, Christopher: shame on you." Just because you don't agree with him? Weird!

Christopher: I was a microsoft junkie for over 20 years. From DOS through Chicago up to XP. I've seen more blue screens than I can count. I've paid thousands of dollars to Redmond. I'll insult them all I please, thank you. I'm here because I've followed Paul's site for years as well. Even though I'm no longer stuck to Windows, I still find his writing interesting. He also regularly talks about mac topics as well. I have beeen a regular at Paul's site for years. Also, I happen to think Lotsa and Bonch are hilarious. I actually think I like reading their responses to Paul's articles more than I like reading the articles themselves.

bdkjones, you still don't get the point, do you? What you're doing is similar to a Toyota owner going to a Porsche discussion group and asking people to buy Toyotas because they give better mileage, are more reliable and are less expensive. Try to go to a Porsche or Audi or even a VW forum and post the message, "Geez, I'm so glad I own a Toyota." You'll be an instant hit on the forum. "I've paid thousands of dollars to Redmond. I'll insult them all I please, thank you." Just because you purchased their products in the past does it give you the right to insult the company and the users of its products?

"I've paid thousands of dollars to Redmond. I'll insult them all I please, thank you." That's funny. Imagine how much better the world would be if everyone followed this philosophy? So, the next time you buy something from a store, abuse the store attendant. Why? Because you just earned yourself that right.

"Just because you purchased their products in the past does it give you the right to insult the company and the users of its products?" Good point, sharky. Although I should point out that s/he is simply following the Paul Thurrott model. Usually when Paul criticizes Apple/Linux or its users, he prefaces his comments by pointing out that he owns one or more of the company's products, and therefore that gives him the credibility to criticize. I'm not sayin' it's right. I'm just sayin'.

"and therefore that gives him the credibility to criticize." That's his job since he writes reviews, op-eds, and news for a living. He also doesn't take a personal stab at users of those products (except a rare mention of the zealots) by calling them out by name or saying things like this: "It boggles my mind that you all are such a lazy herd of sheep that when someone comes along and writes some software that inspects your machine and then sends the report off to Mircosoft [sic], you just roll over!" Paul is by no means similar to those people. It is possible to be critical without being rude. If someone takes that criticism personally have a definite issue. The reaction could stem from a measure of emotional dependency. Which is an absolutely inane and immature feeling to have for a corporation. I'd say the outbursts *could* be warranted if the person worked for the company being criticized and the attacks were deliberately vicious. Even if they *did* work for the company, any rational person would say, "That's their opinion" and leave it at that.

Bah, I didn't want to sound like I was riding to Paul's defense. He can step up for his own defense if he so desires.

"Usually when Paul criticizes Apple/Linux or its users, he prefaces his comments by pointing out that he owns one or more of the company's products, and therefore that gives him the credibility to criticize." Criticism is okay. It's one thing to criticize a company's products and a totally different thing to insult them and the users. Paul criticizes Microsoft's products too and that's a good thing. Also, Paul still buys Linux and Apple products. He didn't buy them 20 years ago.

"I have to think that its battery life will never be as good as that of XP, unless you turn off Aero Glass. And at that point, why bother running Vista?" You actually answered that question further down the page :) "Next Tuesday, Microsoft will unleash 12 security patches on customers [...] Hey, it could be worse. Wait, could it actually be worse?" So there you go: Vista - Aero = XP + Better Security ;)

"It's one thing to criticize a company's products and a totally different thing to insult them and the users." If you don't think Paul does both, you haven't been reading him as long as I thought.

Re: Compute Cluster, "But I have to wonder. Is there some reason this thing has to have "2003" in its title? That was three years ago." Maybe, just maybe, because it is based on the Server 2003 code base? i.e., the same reason that Server 2003 R2 is called 2003 instead of 2006; the same reason Small Business Server 2003 is 2003.

"Well, Microsoft has made Windows Vista Beta 2 available to the public. I think that's a mistake, because Beta 2 is buggy, unreliable, and unstable, and I've been having crazy performance issues with it on multiple systems" And yet, you gave it head four times (out of a possible five) on your Windows! Supersite! Interesting rating for a "buggy, unreliable and unstable" release. How's that Kool-Aid taste?